125 stories by "Barnaby Hughes"
A REIMAGINED BUTTERFLY WHERE REALITY MEETS FANTASY What is it about Giacomo Puccini's Madama Butterfly (1904) that lures audiences back year after year, especially in the United States? Mada…
COSÃŒ FANTASTIC This was my third time seeing Mozart's Così Fan Tutte. The second was Lyric's 2018 production. While I was concerned about the three-and-a-half-hour runtime on a Sunday …
THE GODFATHER AND FELLINI MEET VERISMO Opera's most famous double bill is back… again Hundreds of one-act operas have been produced, but few have attained the popularity of Pietro Mascagni…
A COMIC REVIVAL OF FALSTAFFIAN PROPORTION ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ Chicago Opera Theater (COT) has given Antonio Salieri's unjustly neglected Fal…
THE FIRST OPERA GETS NEW LIFE FROM HAYMARKET AND NEWBERRY CONSORT The origins of opera are somewhat obscure and not well-known. Haymarket Opera and The Newberry Consort, two of Chicago's fin…
MOVE OVER TYLER PERRY; HERE COMES CHERUBINI'S MEDEA Lyric Opera rarely stages anything written before the nineteenth century, apart from Mozart and the occasional Handel and Gluck, so it is …
LISTEN TO THE LISTENERS. DO YOU HEAR THE HUM? Perhaps the most contemporary opera ever to grace the Lyric stage, Missy Mazzoli's The Listeners borrows heavily from reality television, social…
BACALING'S BOHÈME CAPTURED MY HEART The operas of Giacomo Puccini are ever-present on the Lyric Opera stage. Only a month ago, Sondra Radvanovsky sang a whole program of Puccini arias, in…
THIS PIGEON ADAPTATION IS NOT FOR THE BIRDS My kids love Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!, the popular children's book by Mo Willems. It's a simple, comic story about a pigeon that wants …
MCPHERSON EXPLOITS DYLAN IN GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY Girl from the North Country is one of those shows that sounds promising in the abstract: a musical incorporating songs by Bob Dylan. W…
One of Chicago's most thrilling companies, Trap Door Theatre, continues its 30th anniversary season with Bertolt Brecht's boisterous musical Mother Courage and her Children, translated by Er…
BOOP! BOPS, HOPS, AND PLOPS Light-hearted, rather silly, and occasionally preachy, BOOP! The Betty Boop Musical could have been so much more. Betty Boop seems an unlikely candidate for reviv…
WEST SIDE STORY HAPPILY REMAINS CLASSICAL AND SADLY REMAINS CONTEMPORARY Lyric Opera's 2022-2023 season has been a challenging one, especially for audiences. The season began with the seldom…
AN ANIMATED FLUTE FANTASIA This new-to-Chicago production of Mozart's Magic Flute (Die Zauberflöte) is the most unique production this writer has seen in eight years of reviewing Lyric Oper…
Fresh on the heels of a high-stakes digital season, Chicago Opera Theater returns with in-person performances for its 2021-22 Season. The company's commitment to showcasing new voices, fresh…
Tickets now on sale for Lyric Opera of Chicago's 2021|22 Season Call 312-827-5600 or visit lyricopera.org Here are the shows: NEW PRODUCTION Verdi MACBETH Sung in Italian with projected E…
Broadway-Bound THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA, with music by Sir Elton John (Disney's The Lion King, Billy Elliot), lyrics by Shaina Taub (Twelfth Night at the Public Theatre), and book by Paul…
RIMSKY TO THE RESCUE As COVID-19 restrictions continue to evolve, Chicago Opera Theater is pivoting its November show digitally in order to honor commitments to artists while protecting the …
A FAUSTIAN BARGAIN OF SORTS Bold, eclectic and experimental, Lyric Opera's new production (co-produced with Portland Opera) of Gounod's Faust comes across as rather jumbled, a mishmash, a ho…
A PRODUCTION TO COSÃŒ UP TO A Lyric Opera season would not be complete without Mozart, so it was with great anticipation that I attended the opening night performance of Così Fan Tutte.…
STILL THE FAIREST OF THEM ALL This reviewer has a confession to make: I don’t particularly like musicals. I'll happily laugh at the jokes and delight in the dancing, but the styl…
PERFECT IMPERFECTIONS Growing up on a steady diet of animated and live-action Disney films and in the shadow of the Disneyland theme park in Anaheim, which I visited every year until I was 1…
COPELAND'S MOREL LACKS INVENTION Four years ago, Long Beach Opera (Artistic and General Director Andreas Mitisek's other company) staged Stewart Copeland's The Tell-Tale Heart, giving the on…
MAKING FUN OF OPERA FUN AGAIN This mostly satirical Lyric Opera/Second City co-production contains little irony apart from the title. For while it definitely IS about Wagner, it most certain…
THE GODS MUST BE ARE CRAZY! It's not often that one gets to see the same opera twice, especially when the opera in question is a delightful rarity like Francesco Cavalli's La Calisto, which …
